A London-bound Boeing passenger plane with 242 people onboard crashed after taking off in India on Thursday, with “many people killed” as it burst into a fireball in a busy residential neighborhood.
Air India Flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad — a city of about 5 million people — roughly five minutes after taking off for London Gatwick, according to Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, India’s director general of the directorate of civil aviation.
The pilot made a “Mayday” call seconds after takeoff — then shocking videos show the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner descending over the busy city then bursting into a massive fireball, with thick black smoke soon consuming the skyline.
Distressing images showed charred bodies on the ground around a flattened area of the city.
The 242 people included 217 adults and 11 children, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said.
“The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
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Author: Ray Hilbrich
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